There is a good old saying not to count your chicken before they hatch. The St Vincent and the Grenadines Chess team currently participating in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India remains mindful of this good old saying but, they certainly have the optimism and the thirst to have a wonderfully polished closure to this very historic and successful journey to the Asian continent.
For a third time in this the first ever Olympiad for a St Vincent and the Grenadines team the quartet of players on game day of August 8th 2022 gifted the nation with a 4-0 victory.
On August 8th 2022, Team SVG Chess took on Palau in the penultimate round of the Olympiad.
Round 10 commenced in earnest at 3pm Indian Standard Time on Monday August 8th 2022 and will see SVG Chess Team don the tables facing Palau. SVG played black pieces on boards 1 and 3 and white pieces on boards 2 and 4.
On board 1 Chinedu Enemchukwu kept his armour shining and it glittered too much for Santiago Tan Jr. Captain Chinedu however had to secure his victory after James Schneider who took on Tito Cabunagan handed an early checkmate putting St Vincent and the Grenadines 1 up. But the Captain does not cherish being outdone at all and not to long after secured the second victory for Team SVG.
Board 3 pitted Ugur Mentes, pushing the black pieces against Angelo Salvadora, this proved a very tough battle with Mentes at one point rubbing his head for minutes subconsciously. Once Angelo gave Mentes a slight chance, Mentes seized the initiative and chucked home Team SVG 3rd win. This meant that Brian Cottle on board 2 was challenged to deliver the TKO to Palau. He pushed and pushed and pushed but Cyril Thomas Montel Jr had other ideas and he counter pushed Cottle. But Montel Jr should have known that Brian is a trained lawyer and any opportunity given he was going to damage the Montel Jr’s defence. So it was that Montel Jr blundered and Cottle sentenced Montel Jr’s King to 4 years solitary confinement at the Budapest facility with no parole until the 2024 Hungary Olympiad. This meant SVG secured its third 4- 0 of the 2022 Olympiad with the final round set for Tuesday 9th August 2022.
Oris Robinson who reserved for this match looked after the comfort needs of his colleagues allowing them to keep board focus in tact.
Round 11 will see St Vincent and the Grenadines sharing the chess battlefield with Gabon. Board 1 will see a meeting of the minds of Chinedu Enemchukwu and Evrard Jose Mounguen Koumba and as has been the tale throughout this tournament Brian Cottle will do a summation of his contribution for the 2022 world meet before Barthelemy Ndjila Akanga Bongo while Oris Robinson will be tasked with the responsibility to shock the “chesslight” out of Tary Ngombele Bongo on table 3.
Table 4 will be of particular significance as the stakes on that table will be extremely high for James Schneider as he seeks to make an additional mark into the chess history books for St Vincent and the Grenadines. Schneider will have to play the best of his hand to reap greater Olympiad joy in his matchup with Ceylan Christ Odounga. Devine intervention will be most welcome.
Ugur Mentes closes his Olympiad chapter for 2022 as he will be the reserve player for this the final round.
Meanwhile, President of the SVGCF and Head of Delegation Israel Bruce attended the final day of the FIDE congress. The congress heard a number of proposals from various countries, approved the bid for Uzbekistan to host the 46th Chess Olympiad and FIDE Congress. Hungary also made presentations on the expectations for the 45th Olympiad to take place in Budapest, Hungary in the year 2024.
The curtains will come down on the Olympiad’s 44th version in a closing ceremony tomorrow Tuesday 9th August 2022. St Vincent and the Grenadines remains with rapped attention and bridled expectations for the announcements of awards and allocation of titles.
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